


In The Depths

by britishflower



Category: No Straight Roads (Video Game)
Genre: Other, Theres a gaint version of a 1010 bot living in the basement, but why?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:21:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27020422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/britishflower/pseuds/britishflower
Summary: 1010 have feared the 3rd lowest floor in the Baracca mansion. Something lives down there and when a rescue mission goes wary and they need to save Rin from the thing in the basement, Neon J is forced to reveal something he's been keeping a secret for months.
Relationships: 1010 & Mayday (No Straight Roads), 1010 & Neon J. (No Straight Roads), 1010 & Zuke (No Straight Roads), Mayday & Zuke (No Straight Roads)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 101





	1. The Thing In The Basement

Each member of 1010 avoided the lower parts of Baracca Mansion. It was big enough to have a lower basement for repairs and an even lower level for storage. None of them went into the storage. Neon J had made it an off limits space especially after the events that had resulted their loss against Bunk Bed Junction. They could hear the noises for something roaming the level below them when repairs were needed.

Somehow, Mayday had found the door to the lowest level. She and Zuke were visiting for a collab session when Eloni had slipped making his balance coordination go offline with it knocked lose in the fall. Now all five robots and two humans stared at the door. A sign tacked on it reading **No Entry Beyond This Point.** **N. J.**

"Oh we totally have to go in here," May said excitedly, reaching to turn the knob.

Zuke stopped her "May, the door says no entry. We have no idea whats even past it," he reasoned.

The guitarist frowned "Come on Zuke, it's like a secret room, plus-" she turned to the group huddled together and staring at it with fear "They probably know!"

Rin was trying and failing to remain the collected leader he was designed to be but faintly he could here the noise of something tromping beyond the forbidden room "Dad J says it's just storage but we're not allowed to go inside," he said.

"Not allowed!" His brothers chorused but even that was still fearful.

May poured but sighed "Fine, I'll leave it alone," she said.

It gave the group a sense of ease to be free of having to enter whatever was beyond the door. Everybody ushered back upstairs to continue their work.

\------

It had been over a few hours when the two humans called for a break. While each member of 1010 could handle practicing for hours on hours to get their routine right or memorizing their lines till perfection, they knew humans could handle going for very long without breaks on certain tasks. What was more worrisome was that Mayday had left for the bathroom and hadn't come back for over twenty minutes. Zuke twirled his drum sticks once more "Okay I'm going to check on her," he said.

"Maybe she's just checking her make up, isn't that a thing girls do?" Zim suggested, pointing to a red cheek.

"Not May, she doesn't wear make-"

A scream filled the manor. Immediately everything was black with glow white stripes when Zuke realized that the five bits had formed a circle around him and each holding up a canon in place of one arm. He pushed his way out "Calm down! It's not an attack, do any of you have a way of guessing where it came from?" He asked, trying not to set off any of the trigger happy robots.

They slowly lowered their weapons when Eloni spoke up but very softly said "Baracca Mansion, Floor 3, Storage Room," in a monotone voice unlike the usual automated one. Everybody started running.

The door was wide open and loud clanging footsteps cpuld be heard echoing from below. Zuke paused at the door "What's- what's usually kept in storage?" He asked.

They all shrugged in unison "We don't know," Haym said.

"Probably spare parts and old junk Dad J keeps around for repurposing," Purl-Hew offered.

Zuke turned to the door again. It definitely sounded like something metallic was being kept down there. He took a step inside, holding his breath and waiting a second. When nothing happened he started going down each step a little faster to reach the bottom sooner. He didn't check back to know that 1010 was keeping up behind albeit a slower pace.

The storage room looked exactly as one imagine it. A tall and large room with dim lights taking up the ceiling. It was filled with shelves that reached just below the high lights above them and filled with old parts or memorabilia from Neon J's life before and after creating 1010. 

Old robots of the boys that had been created and improved from over the years hung limply with arms and legs dangling over the sides. Merchandise from years of working and growing were tucked along the edges. Even old child versions of the boys existed to serve a purpose of experiencing youth that never happened.

They had split off into pairs of two. Zuke and Rin carefully walking through each line of shelves and checking before going ahead. Rin leaned forward to look ahead since he was taller than the man beside him "Why keep any of this anyway?" Zuke asked in a hushed voice.

Rin shrugged his shoulder "Dad J is very attached to things from the past, it's his way of handling the struggle of moving forward," he replied, then took a few steps ahead.

Something moved into their path. They squeezed into a free space on the shelf near them. The thing looked like a member of 1010. Tall with a sleek black body and white lines but it didn't look like any of the boys. It's hair went from Brown at the roots to blonde at the tips. Just like the band, it's eyes and face reflected the same color scheme as well. Brown to yellow eyes and cheeks. Three small scratched marked its left eye. The bot looked around carefully. Both watched as its eyes glowed brighter and a yellow beam filled the area ahead of it. The cone of light lifted up and down before vanishing. It frowned "Little? Little, come play?" The bot begged in a soft voice. Zuke felt his body shift and a can rolled off the shelf.

The noise seemed louder than anything in that moment. The bot whirled around yellow light filling the way behind it and landed on the rolling can. The bot picked it up, staring momentarily then sighing before placing it on the higher shelf next to it "Not little," it grumbled, trolling away to find whatever it was searching for.

Zuke nor Rin moved until they were both certain it was far away enough to not hear them. Rin stared at the shelf the can had been placed on while Zuke dusted himself off.

A hand smacked him "Zuke," Run said, pointing up. When he looked up he had to take a moment to understabd what Rin was pointing at.

It was the can.

Sitting just a shelf higher than Rin was compared to him. He looked at it as if they had learned something horrible "It's taller than you," he said dumbfounded. When They had been laying down, it seemed imposing already but to discover that was taller than any of the 1010 current members was more terrifying than it should be. They had to find May soon and fast.

He turned to Rin "Try telling the other guys what happened, I don't think that thing can see them unless they're moving when there's a yellow cone coming from it's eyes," he said.

Rin nodded once. They kept moving, not caring to hide from the thing they had seen.

A loud yell filled the storage followed by echoing crashes of metal feet running. Rin signed like a timer "Found Mayday but it found them, we need to leave!" He said, scooping up Zuke like a fan girl and sprinting back the way they came. He was in more shock that it found the others than he was about being bridal carried.

Soon they saw what the mesaage meant. Purl-hew, Haym, and Eloni were running away as Zimuel was carrying Mayday. Behind them was the terrifyingly tall bot. It was raining speed with its longer legs and was just barely about to reach Eloni when the five were up on the stairs. 

The noise of it crashing into the entryway smaller than the sheer height it possessed. The thing blocked the way, reaching feebly up the stairwell for anything within its grasp. Rin slammed his feet to slow down when they got closer. It's head swung to look at them. Eyes priming brightly and the cone formed.

Zuke and Rin froze in place. The cone drifted over them both slowly and meticulously like it was trying to decipher the people it had its golden gaze directly at. The bot stood up after the beam went away and stomped its feet angrily "Lose! Lose! Lose!" It complained and started walking away, pouting like an over grown child.

Rin started moving, taking steady and quiet steps "Hurry up before it turns around like it did to us!" Zim hissed.

Zuke's eyes widened but just as Rin was moving an inch closer. Golden light filled the area behind them "Target Located." A voice mocked. The beam centered on Rin. 

The leader tossed Zuke like a doll from his arms "Catch Him!" He shouted. Immediately Haym held Zuke like a doll as well. 

They watched at the taller bot loomed over Rin. He came up to their chest when standing perfectly straight. It picked him up by his sailor coat "Hmm," it looked him over like a child did with a new thing they had found. It's gaze locked on his face, doing a few scans to identify whoever they held.

It's cheeks glowed as it smiled "White! White!" The boy cheered, bouncing around. It tucked him under its arm "New collect," it said excitedly, walking away with a panicked Rin. The two vanished into the darkness of the shelves.

There was a chilling silence as they stood in place. They had just watched as a robot that was very clearly one of them but also not, kidnap the group leader. That was definitely something they were going to need Neon J for.


	2. Hide Away Corner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin suffers in peace, Neon J gets explaining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/753782502182748243/766051393580564560/IMG_20201014_163411_277.jpg
> 
> Here's Morpheus' design btw in case you wanna make fan art or something 👉👈

Rin hadn't tried fighting his captor as they were lead through the winding maze of shelves. What had founded strange most of all was the attempt at conversation from the other bot. It didn't form full sentences but seemed to be trying "Still glowing, confusion but excited for new collect," it said.

He tried not responding until it hoisted him up again to be in view. He wasn't used to meeting others that were taller than him or his brothers since they had been built to be taller than average.

It's head tipped to the side "Speak? White speak?" It asked almost sounding polite.

He didn't speak in hopes that would deter it. Instead the bot shrugged and tucked him under its arm again as they continued forward "Repair speak later, J gives new parts so should have," it said.

That was the last straw "Neon J?" He asked. 

Rin was swung up from its arm again to see the glowing grin on its face "White Speak!" 

\-----

Neon J stared at his troops and the rocker duo. They had explained in a less than steady behavior about the gaint bot in the storage who had supposedly kidnapped Rin. He was leaned back in a chair and trying to mentally prepare a speech.

It was something he'd have to tell them eventually. The bot just wasn't ready yet to be presented. The model was bigger than them and still needed a few repairs done to its voice box. Though the height thing was merely an accident.

He sat up again "I suppose it's time you learned about your newest recruit, men," he said. Neon J pressed a button on his desk which revealed files of the band and their circuitry. Everybody watched as he flipped through the files coming to the newest variant.

_Model - Ph3us_

_Name - Morpheus_

_Coloring - Hazel_

The details he had on it was numerous and growing. The bot was built for ground control to scan areas and lock on targets to hunt them relentlessly. Instead the current Morpheus that lived in the basement was blind to objects that didn't move. He pulled up a more accurate video of the bot. It was a test video.

_There was a moment as the screen came to life with a 1010 NSR logo. Slowly a face, or a screen, came to view "Good to see you active soldier," the video Neon J said._

_Two hands grabbed his screen and pulled him closer. Everything turned to black and white but where the struggling Neon J was a bright yellow and locked on. A few more scans pulled up more information about the cyborg._

_The hands released him soon after "J," it stated. Then seemed surprised to speak "J. J. J." Morpheus giggled "Soldier! J! Awaken!"_

_Neon J sighed "Well good to see your vision and speech is working," he paused and pointed at the screen "Can you tell me the date?"_

_Morpheus tried to speak again but the words seemed absent. It touched it's mouth and tried again "Month. Day. Hour. Minute," it said._

_The sergeant crossed his arms "seem we might need to fix that. Morpheus power down," he instructed._

_Morpheus did not power down. It blinked at him. The cyborg looked at his creation "Power down soldier," he repeated._

_Morpheus was still on, staring at something else now. A video was playing on a screen behind him. They stood up. The low ceiling bonked their head. Morpheus whined and sat back on the bench. Neon J immediately perked up as the bot leaned down._

_All was darkness as they heard muffled talking about something. There was a click. The logo returned as t_ _he video ended._

Neon J turned it back to the model sheet "As you can see, Morpheus isn't in working condition yet," he said, crossing his fingers "They're functional but it could be a long time before I can fully set them up for public release," he explained. 

They stared at the model sheet present. It was almost identical to them minus the sailor uniform and the height was taller by an entire foot "But why did it take Rin? That's a load of bulldozer we don't even know," Mayday asked.

There was an uneasy feeling from Neon J "I'll handle it, Morpheus isn't comfortable around other people," he said.

Zimuel started chanting "Let us help, let us help, let us help, let us help," which got the other three and Mayday going as well. The sergeant gave Zuke a look but the drummer shrugged and joined in with his usual calm demeanor. 

Neon J rubbed his radar "Fine, but do not break off and follow my direct orders," he said, standing up. The lot cheered with joy.

\------

Rin was prepared for something when the door opened but instead it was a bedroom. It was surprisingly normal besides the four broken 1010 bots. They were propped up on a shelf cleared away just for them. The bot kicked the door shut behind them and set him down on the bed before blocking most of his sight with a blanket "Gift! J away," it said.

For a moment Rin was confused by who it would be talking to when one of the four jerked to life. It was a Zimuel, the red Mohawk missing and a leg was replaced with an older model "Ye-ah! Gift!" He shouted and went to stand up. The Haym next to him grabbed his brother before hitting the ground, he had two green hoops in place of the yellow point.

An Elori wore Purl-Hew's shades and a blue cape instead as well. He clapped "What is it?" He asked excitedly standing up with his other two brothers. 

The Purl-Hew waved his one good arm "Please be another arm," he said, taking a second to stand. 

The bot shook it's head "Better, perfect condition-" it revealed him with flourish "White!" 

The boys looked at him with new found interest "A white!" They said in unison. The four began looking him over as if they haven't seen him before or in a long time. All Rin could think off was how long had this been under the house?


	3. Here lives the broken

May felt bad for getting Rin captured. It was her own fault for going down there in the first place and almost getting captured herself. She wasn't sure she'd shake that memory soon either.

_It was junk and memorabilia for times gone by way too fast. She had found a pair of Purl-Hew replica sunglasses when the beam of light locked on her. They stood about a few feet a part. Morpheus with a bundle of spare parts in one arm while their hand rested on a shelf. Both stared at each other, her up and him down._

_A moment past._

_Then two._

_And three._

_A head fell from his arms. Morpheus frowned "Oops," he peeped._

_Mayday screamed. He dropped all of his parts and covered his ears. Sparks popped off his body at joints. While he was busy she ran as fast she could in any direction._

_His voice echoed in the maze around her "Little? Little, Come here." The sound of heavy footsteps seemed to getting closer at every turn or around the corner. Eventually she ran into Zimule and Elori, greatful to see the red and green duo. Until they ran into Haym and Purl-Hew who were running from Morpheus. Then Rin was taken._

Now in the present, she was going to help get him back. Even if her feet hurt and the way to the room seemed endlessly long and boring.

\-------

Rin was used to being fawned over endlessly. It was weird being fawned over by broken down versions of his own brothers. Zimuel 2 was busy being repaired by the big bot, Morpheus as he had finally introduced himself, with the off model leg. Haym 2 and Elori 2 were looking through a box of broken spare parts and putting them on the body of a very broken down version of himself. Purl-Hew 2 was inspecting him like as the blue bot had never seen Rin before.

PH2 tugged up the white lined coat "Oi, Hyde and Peho," he called out. The pair looked up from the box "Anything like this in there?" He asked.

They went through for a bit but shook their heads. Purl-Hew 2 huffed "So much for that," he grumbled, moving away to small clip board hanging on the wall.

Rin watched as the double wrote something down on the paper attached to it "What are you doing?" He asked.

Purl-Hew 2 sat back down and contained inspecting Rin "Looking for possible part repairs," the bot laughed seeing the better's shocked reaction "We're not going to rip you for scraps, Morpheus collects parts to repair us with since he's technically the only one allowed to but Peno blends in pretty well, Right Peno?" He said, directing the last bit towards the green and blue Elori who gave a quick thumbs up before pulling out a cracked face plate with an intact blue check. The bot did a little dance and went wait as Morpheus and Zim 2 continued to get the old part cooperating with the new.

Rin raised an eyebrow "What's with the names? Aren't you still... A Purl-Hew bot?" He asked unsure of how to phrase it.

Purl-Hew 2 laughed for a moment and pulled down his shades to reveal yellow eyes "A former Haym actually," he put the shades back on "But in the sense of what you actually mean, we are. After being broken beyond repair or discarded from wear Dad put us down here. Morpheus played around with wires and mechanics a bit and got us running, so we're basically 1010 bots but customized." He pointed to each one "Red is Zin, Yellow 2 is Hyde, Green is Peho, I'm Puy, and big boy is Morpheus," he gestured to the torso and head of the broken Rin "And scrapper there is Work In Progress until further notice," he explained.

Rin nodded and didn't speak much after that. The group was a flurry of activity around him for the time. Zin had finished his leg repair and zoomed around the room on wheels stuck to his feet. Morpheus was concentrated on attaching a new colored cheek to Peho's face as Hyde watched in interest. Puy at some point left Rin's side and took out an old stereo.

Music began playing from the speakers. It was one of their songs but lower and seemed well suited to be played versus the usual edm variant. After the last wire was assorted to Peho's cheek, Morpheus stood up and walked over to the clip board. He tapped a foot on the ground to the slow thump of familiar tunes. Morpheus tapped the board "Arm coat for Puy, anymore?" He asked.

Hyde pointed to the broken Rin "He needs arms and legs before charging," he said.

Morpheus scribbled down the request. Zin shot a hand up "Hair please, any is fine." More scribbling.

"A poster," Peho said. Morpheus gave him a look then laughed as he wrote down the request. 

The bot took the sheet off and went to the door "No exiting, J near sleep away," he said in a warning tone and left.

\--------

They had seen the bot walk by just before finding the room. Morpheus was still as imposing as ever but seemed in a lighted mood, holding a sheet of paper and looking over the many shelves. Neon J instructed them to wait by the perimeter as a safety measure. He approached Morpheus, who was distracted with a broken Purl-Hew. The bot looked over the blue one into his hands, inspecting the joints carefully before pulling it apart with extreme ease. The active Purl-Hew hissed with sympathy pain for the detachment. Morpheus turned to look when Neon J was in his view "Soldier, at ease," he said, a moment before Morpheus locked on golden. 

The bot held the arm with ease like a toy "J, request search?" He asked in a tiny voice.

The cyborg nodded "One of my troops is missing and was last reported down here." 

The bot looked confused for a moment, almost fooling them into believing that Morpheus never took Rin in the first place. They watched as he held the Purl-Hew who was now missing an arm to Neon J "Located?" He peeped.

The sergeant seemed put off for a second then shook his head "I'm looking for a white, he's in the best condition as possible," he explained.

Morpheus nodded once "Okay," looked at the bot he held. It had one good leg with the other missing the knee and below. He kept the rest of it, tucking the spare under his arm. Morpheus looked over a small list that he had brought with him and marked off something.

He waged for Neon J to follow, and while turned around, Neon J signaled for the troop to follow behind him. They all marched around the storage for even longer. Morpheus was doing the same thing as May had seen him doing before. Collecting parts off of broken 1010 boys. So far he had gotten an arm, a Purl-Hew in need of repairs, the lower half of a leg, a coat off of a Rin, one of each 1010 hair styles, and an old 1010 poster with a big enough to carry everything. As they were approaching the room, Morpheus turned unexpectedly. His beam filled the entire way in front of them and locked on the group to scan a few times.

Neon J was disregarded as his overly tall bot pushed him aside. Everybody seizes up as he approached. The bot stopped in front of Mayday. They stared at each other once again for a long heartbeat. Morpheus took a moment to pull a shirt out of his box and handed it to May "Little wanted?" He asked in a very soft voice.

It was a shirt she had gushed over briefly just before the horrifying encounter transpired. May took it with some shock "Oh, uh thanks big guy," she said.

Morpheus nodded and went back to the door. The bedroom was just a bedroom with mixed up 1010 bots sitting in a neat row on a shelf. Rin was sitting on the bed and looked happy when he saw them. Soft music filled the air as Morpheus dropped his box of supplies "White Located," he said, gesturing towards Rin.

The reunion was nice. The brothers hugging and fawning over the return of their eldest. Mayday barely saw it but while they were asking Rin about what the storage was like, Morpheus had taken to working on a almost perfect Purl-Hew. 

The bot shouldn't have been lit up not able to move. He carefully patted Morpheus' knee as the bigger was reattaching the arm from the scrap pile. 

It was all she thought about as they left the storage room and Morpheus. All the way up stairs and back to practice. Time melted away around that single thought.

The Broken Bot Had Moved.

She stopped to talk to Neon J as she and Zuke were leaving "Hey, do uh the broken ones usually move?" She asked.

The sergeant shook his head "No, all troops have been designed to deactivate and body hop if they are destroyed beyond repair." He supposedly stared at her "Did one move in Storage? So commands do fail when the boys are nearby," he offered.

May shook her head "Nah, I guess I mistook an arm for moving by accident, bye," she lied and hurried to catch up to Zuke.

Neon J hummed as he went over the files of the day, many hours after the boys had shut down. He inspected Rin's memories the most. 

It jumped and moved as Morpheus carried his brother like a toy. He watched as the door of the room open and the settling on the bed. Just as the feed had been clear as crystal, everything grew fuzzy. There was voices and talking but nothing was made out as easy.

The sergeant groaned and leaned back in his chair. A new idea came, he flipped to check Morpheus' files.

A live feed came on instead.


	4. Custom Scrap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dreams to be live

Morpheus stood on a stage microphone ready and the crowd at their feet was a sea of dark faces. He waved to everyone present "Welcome, we're Custom Scrap!" The mic boomed his voice, which sounded out of place and unlike his usually deep tones the voice was like any of 1010's own shared file. 

The crowded roared the name back to him. Morpheus gestured around him, peeking glances at his active and not destroyed custom versions of 1010. A fur coat stood out on his shoulders "Let's Rock!" He called which the crowd erupted even louder.

Neon J ran. It had been far too long since he had but pushed himself to anyway. The scene was clearly the sewers, where most of the rock bands played in the Underground District after the revolution happened. The music roared from the pipes and thumped up to the streets.

All that ran through his head the entire way was wanting to protect his son. How had the cheering not fired his circuits? Morpheus was built to withstand high frequency yet. They'd fry, burn out, mentally break from the noise. He shoved into a room ready to stop the show-

And found nothing.

His Radar pulled up the feed. It was live, in this room! So why wasn't anything around? How could it be barren?

He swapped over a screen to the radar installed inside the house. It dinged up the first floor. Five dots of 1010 showed up.

It dinged up the second floor. Empty as he had left it.

The lowest floor dinged. One dot.

He caught a ride back to the Metro district, letting that single dot function as a beacon of hope. 

Weakly, he opened the door to the bedroom. Curled up in a corner on floor was Morpheus, slumped over in a sleep like state with his mouth open and snoring loudly. A blanket was draped over his form albeit smaller than the huge bot.

A plug was instead to his neck outlet. Neon J followed it to a side room and plugged in was a stereo with a CD inside. There he heard the hushed voices.

"Walking can be hard after a long time, you're doing great."

"Don't worry, I've got you. Trust me it's hard to catch yourself with one arm."

There was a few slow uneven steps. A few claps echoed in the silence "Doing great buddy."

"Tha- Aaaah."

"One task at a time. Morpheus hasn't installed a voice box for you yet."

A series of brief disappointed whirls and whines "We all hated it but Morpheus is great at finding parts and if we get extra lucky Puy might get the chance to sneak us new parts."

The cyborg sent out a scan but only picked up Morpheus sleeping behind him. He peeked around a corner of the curtain behind the stereo.

The bots from Morpheus' dream were helping a broken Rin. He looked nearly perfect minus the missing arm and outdated leg. He was being held up by a Purl-Hew who's eyes barely peeked from over his shades as yellow.

He stepped back, puzzling over the situation. How had these boys been revived? The bodies were designed to remain offline as soon as they befell destruction.

His foot caught the cord, popping it free of the stereo. Morpheus snorted awake. His eyes blurred brown and he shuffled to reinsert the plug when his eyes landed on Neon J. A sleepy smile came on his face "J, visits late?" He said.

Neon J nodded "I wanted to make sure you were good for the night, did I interrupt your sleep?" He asked and half lied.

The bot blinked a few times "No trouble, no trouble," he replied. Morpheus removed the blanket and stood to his full height again. He looked down at his dad tiredly then at the Curtain. He giggled half heartedly "Shh, friends slumber," he whispered, letting Neon J's screen head.

The sergeant watched as his youngest climbed into the custom sized bed he had required to be made for the hazel one's sheer size. He fluffed under the blanket and pulled the chord up "Plug?" He asked in a tiny voice.

Neon J would have smiled if he could. He took the chord, about to plug it in when he checked the disc. It was old rock songs. The cyborg tried not the physically grimace if he could but reclosed the lid and plugged the chord in once more. Turning around, Morpheus had returned to sleep again with soft snoring.

Neon J also plugged in the charger when he noticed it nearby. He patted the bot's loose curls "Good night soldier." Trotting to the door, he stopped. The cyborg turned around the yellow eyed Purl Hew stood by the bed. They stared at each other and shared a brief moment of silence.

The custom bot stepped towards the hidden area "Goodnight, Dad J," he said and vanished.

The next morning, Neon J had returned to Morpheus' room. The tall bot was finally awake and attempting to unplug the charger and Stereo. He looked back at the sergeant "Morning," Morpheus greeted.

"Great to see you active Solider, we have testing today," He instructed, standing by the door.

Morpheus looked quizzical "Testing? Not planned, free day," he said, clearly going over his internal calender for the unplanned event.

Neon J nodded to confirm the confusion "Change of plans, I want to check you frequency sensitivity and work on it," he explained.

The larger of the two pouted but followed him to the cramped door that lead upstairs to the lab. Morpheus crouched as best he could but struggled to fit. The climb upstairs grew tighter and small as they went higher which made the bot yearn to be the same height as his family instead of the looming one he already was. 

Morpheus popped out of the stairwell with a sigh of relief. The repair room was small as ever too.

He sat on the table made for him which didn't change but at least he was crouching anymore due to his stupid height. Neon J hooked up a chord to a nearby speaker and began enhancing the volume to let out a low ringing. Each time he asked "System Functions?" 

Morpheus replied "Clear." And the ringing would get higher and higher.

At the point where it was consider crowd shrieking level did he start struggling. Morpheus knew he wasn't built for public use yet but he hated being trapped inside all day. His joint shot painful and the ringing hissed at his wires like cats.

"Sys-m Fun-ion?" A voice called.

Morpheus opened his mouth to speak, desperate to lie to try fighting the sound but his voice was radio static. The ringing stopped. His joints cooled and his wires relaxed. Neon J sighed "That's enough, let's look at your panel now."

The bot frowned but laid on the table and let his chest be opened for repairs.


	5. Puy's Day Out Gone Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of 2 for Puy centric chapters

Puy wasn't supposed to be in the upper floors of the mansion but the others wanted to get something that wasn't storage unit junk. So they sent him up since he looked the closest to a normal 1010. As long as he kept his shades on, nobody would know and avoid being in the same place as the actual Purl Hew. 

He just had to escape the repair room without being seen first. Morpheus was powered down on a table as Neon J was messing with the their wiring. Puy knew that his defense of a foil blanket would avoid detection on the cyborg's radar but it didn't change anything at all. He would get caught if he wasn't extremely careful. So his plan went accordingly with terror, he went further when Neon J worked as it unleashed noise hiding his steps and the russle of the foil blanket. When it went quiet for J to inspect his work, Puy went behind a shelf to hide. 

Soon he made his way upstairs for the first time. The custom bot didn't retain any of his old memories as Haym but the mansion layout was exactly as his built in map offered. Now he had to engage the next phase of the plan: Getting something from outside that wasn't from the storage.

What could he get? The question was endless but even he knew there was limits. First, he needed money and that required getting a credit caaa- OH. He still had the card information in his memory bank. 

Well now it was a matter of figuring what to get. He also needed a disguise to avoid paparazzi as he knew better. He'd need to get a disguise and he knew one place where to get one.

Haym's room.

The thing about the disguise was that when he put it on, he'd have to pretend to be Haym instead of Purl Hew. It wasn't like he didn't dislike the yellow form he naturally was programmed to be but with his own personality now, he liked being the blue bot better. Cool and relaxed without a traffic cone of hair on his head. 

He pushed open the door, he found it empty aside from the familiar yellow color scheme and his old decorations. They held memories he no longer possessed but he knew each one meant a lot to him somehow. As much as he wished to look over everything and recall each one, Puy reached under his old bed and pulled out a box from under it. He removed the lid to see the inventory inside. An oversized black hoodie with three yellow stripes, a white face mask, white jeans customized to fit his robotic form.

He tugged the hoodie over his head and stuffed the mask into his pocket. There he turned around to see himself- Haym staring at him. They stared at each other when Puy spoke "Hey," he greeted as normally as a real Purl Hew could.

"This isn't a prank right?" Haym asked, for a moment Puy assumed himself until Eloni appeared in the frame way followed by the Purl Hew a second later.

"Isn't that the one from Morpheus' room?" Purl Hew asked.

He knew there was no way to untangle himself from this lie. Puy stood up "Welp, I'll just take my-"

Instead he turned and body slammed himself out of the window.

"Sorry about stealing your stuff Haym but I got things to do!" Puy called as he ran through the backyard.

He almost forgot the pool existed until he slipped on the wet ledge and splashed into the water. A minute later he was being dragged out by Haym and Eloni, staring at his shades at the deep end. He sighed, how could he forget about the pool? The one thing he had forgotten about which took up a large part of the backyard? Puy laid on his back and waited as the water leaked out of his joints. 

He stared up at Eloni, Haym, and Purl Hew "So how do you work? Aren't you guys broken?" Purl Hew asked.

Puy stared at him "With a little basic engineering and mechanics knowledge, you'd be shocked at how easy it is to be reactivated."

"Are you okay Ha- Purl- um You?" Eloni asked with uneasy nervousness.

"Puy, and no, I feel into the pool and ruined a perfectly good plan."

"Why did you steal my clothes then?" Haym asked.

Puy rubbed water off his face and sat up. In that instant, his new arm Morpheus had installed yesterday cane off. Thankfully, Eloni had grabbed him before he fell face first against the wet concrete.

"I just got that arm!"


End file.
